Virtual Swim Series 2005- New Computerized Logs

January 1 begins the Virtual Swim Series for 2005. Start logging your practice and meet yardage and see how far you swim during the year. We have added three types of computerized logs to transpose your distances into Virtual Swims. Each swim now has a graph that you can see your daily progress. Find the swims and logs in the Fitness Section. Entry Deadline for 2004 extended to Jan 30 so you can try the new logs.

2005 Virtual Swim Registration

The entry deadline for the 2004 Virtual Swim Series has been extended until Jan. 30. The registration form is only needed to send in your swims at the end of the year. You do not need it to put your practice or meet yardage into a Virtual Swim. I was going to wait until Feb. 1 to post the 2005 registration form so as not to confuse those still sending in their 2004 swims. The entries go to different host teams.
You can do any swim posted on the web now for 2005. There are 15 swims with multiple combinations. You can swim across a given lake one year and go lengthwise the next year. The graphs even can record the various options. We do need more swims for 2005. Anyone can write a swim on a body of water anywhere in the world. Contact me if you have any questions.

Sounds like fun. As for ideas, being a Midwesterner relocated to the desert, might I suggest:
1. the Colorado River (swim throught the Grand Canyon)
2. the Mississippi River (get to New Orleans by Mardi Gras!)
3. the Missouri River (a "Lewis & Clark" swim?)

What about an Erie Canal Swim? Great Lakes? Just think of the possibilities!

Ideas for New Swims

Your ideas for new swims are great ones. I have been trying to get Sandi Rousseau to write up her 225 mile trip through the Grand Canyon, which she did last May. (Hope she reads this) Personal photos by someone who has been there would really be nice.
No one has done the Missouri or the Mississippi but the Baton Rouge group did do Lake Pontchartrain. We do have one swim in the Great Lakes and one on the Erie Canal by OHIO Masters. A swim in time for Mardi Gras would be great.
We are accepting swims from anywhere in the world. So all you travelers, send us a swim. You can find samples to help you with formatting in the Fitness Section of the website. They are easy and fun to do. You get to list your team and a couple of sentences about where you swim so it is great publicity. And of course we will make an awesome log for your swim!

Thank you. Has anyone with the talent ever thought about doing somehting like the President's Challenge? I do it every year. I try to win bronze, silver and gold three times each year. Last year was the first time I wasn't able to do so. It took me six extra days in 2005 to doit. http://www.presidntschallenge.org. The site lets you compare yuor work with others inyour age group, city, state, or just the general population. It is an outgrowht of the test we used to take as children.

I think it would be a great income stream for USMS. they sell t0shirts and award buttons and lapel pins that participants purchase as one reaches a goal.